with the Mace family.

And with it, comes the beautiful crisp weather we have been dreaming about all summer. For us, it was a hot one. And I mean yucky hot! Do you remember me mentioning most people don’t have air conditioning out here? That’s because it’s typically only hot about two weeks out of the summer. Yeah, not this summer. It was unusually hot and unusually dry. I am thankful we don’t have the humidity out here because that would have just made it worse. There were days, and by days I really mean weeks, where the temp in our house did not drop below 78 and that was sometime after midnight, and only until the sun rose again and brought the temp to 85 or higher by noon. There were even days when it was cooler outside in the evening than it was in the house. This might not seem hot to all of you, but do it without a/c and you will find it’s uncomfortable at best. Plus, our place was in full sun all day, not a speck of shade. We all stunk! But thankfully there were more days that were bearable, though hot, than unbearable. It’s still dryer here than normal, but the rain is coming. I look forward to the rain and the beauty it brings. So much has changed and happened in the last few months. Let’s start with the most recent and try to work our way back.
Most of you know we have moved. We didn’t plan on it, but our previous landlord decided to sell the property we were renting. Even then, we didn’t foresee such a quick move. The couple had also put their house up for sale. It sold quick, like within 3 days of putting it up for sale quick. So they wanted to move into where we were living and gave us 30 days. No one could have foreseen their house selling so fast! So like madmen, we searched for a new place and packed. We talked and dreamed about moving to B’ham, how close we could be to everything. But we only found one place there we liked, but didn’t love. It honestly looked like we were going to take that one, when one popped up in the city we live in. Since N was out of town, I checked it out and fell in love with it. It was everything we wanted, including a fantastic price, except in wasn’t in B’ham. It became my first choice, even though we didn’t know if we would even get it. That night our second choice called and said we could have their property. We asked if we could pray about it, hoping to buy some time. To make the long story short, we got the first choice! So we are still in the same town we were before, just a different street. It is a blessing! We have a nice size fenced in backyard that has three raised garden beds with compost already put in. There is a two car garage, to offer plenty of storage space. The boys love it and this is the house they were hoping for after we saw it. This was the first time they got invested in a place after seeing it. Our kitchen in large enough because of a breakfast nook to house both a dining table and a homeschooling table. It is smaller in some areas and larger in others, but over all it feels like a home. The neighborhood has plenty of families living here and we have already met some of them. The only thing that would make this place better is if it weren’t in the city limits so I could get chickens and a cow. Yes, as crazy as that sounds, I want them. I am looking into miniature cows that produce enough milk to feed a family of four for a week. But I will save this dream for later.

I should update you all on the boys now. B had an ortho appt. last week and has new colors on his braces. He gets them changed every time. He also has a thicker wire on the bottom and it’s looking like more brackets will be added at his next visit in Nov. He is wearing headgear, but only has to at night, though he has worn in during the day as well. We are still homeschooling. This Wednesday we will add music theory bi-monthly to his subjects. This is being taught by a friend of ours who was classically trained in music. She has an amazing voice and plays banjo among other instruments. Growing up, her family played music and sang together, touring and putting out cd’s. We are very confident in her abilities to open up the world of music to B. B will be learning to keep a beat, which he can’t do, but needs to be able to do in order to pursue an instrument. He will also learn how to read and write music as well. While not the most fun class, I believe he will gain a lot from it and I know his teacher is great with kids and can make it fun. The other subjects he is studying are going along very well. He really enjoys Latin and is wanting to teach our new neighbors what he is learning. These lessons will really come in handy when we start studying botany in the second semester. B is also in youth group on Wed. nights and he even did a lock in back in Aug. He stayed up all night, but fell fast asleep in the car as N drove him home. He had a blast and got to know a lot of the older teens. Back in Aug, B asked us if he could help out in a program our church was starting for the kids on Thurs. nights. My B is volunteering and giving his time to be with younger kids on Thurs for an hour and fifteen min. Through this, I am hoping he learns to pour into others and to love and be kind. He really does well with little kids, and we’ve had lots of parents comment on that. But it’s so very true. B is gentle and patient with them. He willingly teaches and helps them do things. Of course, we don’t always see this with his brother, but you know how that is. While you can already see how busy B is, he might be adding two days at the gym to it. Our gym is doing classes for middle to high school age kids. It is half an hour every Tues. and Thurs. where they run and do other activities. We are going to check it out this week to see if it’s something he wants to do.

Gav is Gav, always interesting and entertaining. He is getting the hang of reading, though he likes to say he doesn’t know how. But he can read, and quite well for the little we have focused on it. He started a spelling book and encountered spelling words for the first time last week. Before it was working on phonics sounds. His list is only six words, but like his brother, he doesn’t like to write. The struggle begins again with this one. Thankfully, he loves math and has really taken off with it. At this age, it’s not incredibly hard, even for him, but he really enjoys it and finds it fun. I love when a subject is fun for them. He is a busy one and we struggle to get through history and science now that they are a little more involved. But I think he will get used to it, especially when we hit more of the fun stuff. Gav got baptized a little over a month ago. It was a big day for him.

I wanted to make you all aware so no one puts anything in the mail. We just saw the place yesterday and put a deposit down. It’s a three bedroom condo that is over 1700 sq ft, much more room than we have here. Plus a nice place outside for the kids to run and play. I will make sure to get you all the new address soon. We will be moving in two weeks, so it’s going to get crazy around here. The great thing is that we will be closer to the church and all of our friends! Another post is coming, but this news just couldn’t wait:)

bringing a lot of change to the Mace household. It’s not big change, but change nonetheless. N has changed positions within the company, which has made him salaried now. Big plus for us is the vacation time available now and the flexibility he has. The negative side is that he will travel more, though we will be able to go with him every once in a while. N is also helping the pastor at the church with getting small groups kicked off. Our church will be doing a church wide small group study together to build more small groups. We have a few already, one of which we lead. We minister to young adults and young married couples. We have a really great group that God has blessed us with. We all mesh well together with our different personalities. I believe we have reached a point where we are starting to get a little deeper with each other. You know how it is when you get a group of people together who don’t know each other that well, it takes a little time before people feel safe and trust those around them. It’s so good! We really look forward to it every week. N is also on the worship team playing his guitar. Can I just say, I love watching him play! We are also on a rotation schedule to teach the 5th/6th grade class. So far we only taught one class. We found out that this bunch doesn’t like balloons being popped. The majority were freaking out about it when they found out it was part of the game. Who knew?! But I believe it went well, or at least the food did!

B is finishing up a few things in 5th grade. We never finished in June, kind of got summer fever and just went with it. It’s not a lot, only takes an hour to go through. But he is officially a 6th grader now and with it brings a lot of change. He is in a new class at the church and is now able to be a part of the youth group. I have been hesitant on this because, well…. because I am his mom and he is growing up way too fast. I know you all understand this and went through (perhaps still experience?) this. I am not ready, and as I said in a earlier blog, I should have one more year, but I don’t. This is one of the pitfalls of having a smart kid, they hit milestones earlier, which is almost as if I have lost a year. Really, he should be in 5th grade, allowing me one more year to prepare myself for all this stuff. *Sigh* His friends are there and he has gone once and really enjoyed it. Once we move, he will be going more regularly. Also, B will be continuing with TK for the forseeable future, as long as he continues to do his school work. He really does enjoy it and is already looking forward to testing for the next belt.

This year is going to be really exciting when it comes to what we are studying. Our books arrived the other day and B couldn’t wait to break them open and see what we will be learning. I thought he was going to read through one of the books we are using for science. This year we are studying zoology 2: Animals of the water and zoology 3: Land Animals. We will have touched on every order of animal when we finish! Math brings decimals and percentages with a little geometry thrown in. The book we use is a mastery approach, with a slight spiral to it. This just means B will master the subject and constantly have review of what he learned in earlier books as well as this one. We are trying a new writing program this year. Honestly, probably should have gotten it this year, but I wasn’t sure on it. It’s by one of the authors who wrote the grammar books we used and liked. History will cover 33 AD to 1456 AD where we will cover lots of stuff that quite frankly escapes at this time of night. B will also be learning to type as well. As for art and music, the library is going to come in handy as we read books about famous artists and composers. As the year goes along, I will try to update you with what we are learning.

Gav has started learning to read!!! So very exciting:) It kind of came upon us recently when I had borrowed Bob books from the library. If you don’t know what those are, they are just books to help little ones read with each story focusing on a few sounds. They gradually get harder and harder. He was reading one while I was at my chiropractor appt., and I really thought he was making the words up. When we got home and sat down with him to read the book, I saw that he was actually reading one of the stories. I can’t tell you how amazing that was! It will be a slow process though, as I am already seeing that Gav gets frustrated easily. We are homeschooling him as well, though we did consider putting him into public school. For now, it suits us and our lifestyle. I have a few books that will mostly focus on writing, which he can do, with more of an emphasis on writing on lines and cutting with scissors. Mostly we will read books and hopefully have a reader by the end of the year. My boys are just growing up too fast.

What does this new season bring me? Nothing but change! My boys are getting older, we are moving into a bigger place nearer to church and friends, and handling N’s new work schedule that is anything but normal. I wouldn’t change any of it for the world. God is doing some great works in our family and hopefully, through us as well. More change will be coming, of that I am sure. We are happier here than anywhere else we have lived. We are all making friends, which hasn’t been the norm for us, and we all enjoy where we live. It’s definitely a wonderful life!